Many common materials consist partially or mostly of carbohydrate molecules, predominantly polymers of glucose, galactose, or similar hexose sugars. When subjected to acid treatment, carbohydrate molecules such as cellulose can be hydrolyzed to form hexose monomers and various other intermediate reaction products. With continued hydrolysis, the hexose monomers can further degrade to end products such as levulinic acid and formic acid. Formic acid can be further degraded to carbon monoxide. For example, formic acid can be degraded according to the following reaction:HCOOH→H2O+COAs a result, the formic acid yield obtained from carbohydrate-containing materials by acid hydrolysis processes can be reduced.
Formic acid is a useful commodity chemical with many industrial applications. One conventional method for producing formic acid is from crude oil derived chemical intermediates. However, processes for producing formic acid from other sources would also be useful.